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700 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
he flept the night preceding his depofition, being removed. The bedftead was fur
nifhed with curtains of pink and filver brocade, ornamented with plumes of red and
white feathers, and the coverlet was of white fatin. Adjoining is a neat cabinet, hung
with light brown filk, upon which were feveral figures worked by the Emprefs.
From the fortrefs we were conduéted to a large gallery of pictures, colleéted by the
Emperor. Among feveral portraits of that unfortunate Prince, one was pointed out to
to us asa ftriking refemblance; he is painted in his Holftein uniform, the complexion
is fair, and the hair light; there is no expreflion in the features, and the countenance is
effeminate.
In the garden is an elegant pavilion, conftructed by order of the Emprefs when Great
Duchefs; it contains eighteen apartments, each furnifhed in the ftyle of different coun-
tries, and is fituated in the midft of a thick plantation. The approaches being circular,
we had not the leaft glimpfe of the building until we arrived; and as it generally caufes
an emotion of furprize, it has, for that reafon, received the appellation of Ha /
In the gardens of Oranienbaum is an extraordinary building, denominated the Moun-
tain for fledges, called alfo by fome travellers the Flying Mountain. It ftands in the
middle of an oblong area, enclofed by an open colonade half a mile in circumference,
fupporting a flat roof, which is raifed for the accommodation of fpectators. The fiying
mountain is a long wooden ftruéture, fupported on brick walls, reprefenting an undu-
lating furface of ground, or a mountain compofed of three principal declivities, gradu-
aily diminifhing in height, with intermediate {paces refembling vallies: from the fum-
nit of the ftru€ture to the further extremity is a floored way, in which three parallel
groves are formed. A fmall carriage, containing one perfon, being placed in the cen-
tre groove upon the higheft point, rufhes with great rapidity down the firft declivity ;
the velocity acquired in the defcent carries it up the fecond and third, and it glides {wiftly
to the extremity of the area; it is then placed in one of the fide grooves, and drawn up
to the fummit by means of a windlafs. To a perfon unacquainted with the mechanifm
of this fingular flru€ture, this entertainment would appear tremendous; but as the
grooves always keep the carriage in a due equilibrium, there is not the leaft danger of
being overturned. At the top of the flying mountain are handfome apartments for the
accommodation of the court and principal nobility, and there is alfo room for many
thoufand {pe&ators within the colonade and upon the roof. Near the flying moun-
‘tain * is a fpacious amphitheatre, in which tournaments are ufually exhibited.
Peterhof is feven miles from Oranienbaum, and twenty from the capital: the palace
was begun by Peter the Great, and finifhed by Elizabeth. It is feated upon an emi-
nence, and commands a fuperb view of Cronftadt, Peterfburgh, the intervening gulf,
and the oppofite coaft of Carelia; it is magnificently furnifhed, and the fuite of apart-
ments is princely. The prefence-chamber is ornamented with the portraits of the fove-
reigns who governed Ruffia fince 1613. The moft confpicuous is a whole length of
Catharine the Second, making her triumphant entry into Peterfburgh, the evening of
the revolution which placed her upon the throne. She is reprefented drefled in the
uniform of the guards, with’a branch of oak in her hat, a drawn fword in her hand,
and mounted on a white fteed.
The gardens of Peterhof have been celebrated for tafte and elegance ; and from the
number of jet d’eaus, fountains, bafons, cafcades, and parterres, have been compared to
thofe of Verfailles. Thefe gardens, which at the time of their formation, were greatly
* Dr. King, in his Effay on the Effedts of Cold, has defcribed another kind of Flying Mountain, which
was erected at Tzarflkoe Zelo: it was takén down when I faw the place.-
4 admired
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